[Mr Rogers]

"The Persian Gulf War proved that the U.S. does not need Turkey regarding our use of force against Saddam Hussein. Turkey refused the use of its air space and Incirlik during Desert Shield from August 2, 1990 to January 16, 1991; refused the U.S. request to open a second front against Iraq (Wash. Post, Jan. 16, 1991, at A6, col. 5) and allowed large-scale smuggling along its 206 mile border with Iraq (Wall Street Journal Oct. 30, 1990, at 1, col.1)."

Sorry - but I was there! We flew out of Incirlik during both Desert Shield and Desert Storm. F-111Es & others. Just goes to show - don't put too much faith in the W Post.

[snopercod]

What action was that when the US lost an F-111 crew because the French wouldn't let us overfly from bases in England?

[eleni121]

General Charles Horner has written (at the website below) that Turkey (Jordan and the Saudis)did not allow the US to luanch airstrikes:

"The objectives seemed fairly clear-cut: Halt, if possible, the attack on the Kurds, but definitely hit Saddam where it hurts. "Hurting" a dictator like Saddam means attacking what gives him his hold on power--his military. Presumably, top priority would be given to the Republican Guard forces arrayed on the outskirts of Irbil and to high-value (and thus well-defended) targets in and near Baghdad. Ideally, F-16s and F-15Es operating out of Turkey and Jordan would attack the Iraqi ground forces, while F-117s from Saudi Arabia would go against Baghdad.

These options never materialized. Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia probably signaled that US air strikes could not be launched from their territory. This effectively prevented us from using USAF landbased fighters and forced us to turn to our independent options: carrier airpower, bombers, and cruise missiles. http://www.afa.org/magazine/Dec1996/1296storm.html